SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
People take cover at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo: David Becker/Getty Images)
Worst Mass Shooting in US History Leaves More Than 50 Dead, 400 Injured in Las Vegas
At least eight firearms, along with several long rifles, were reportedly found in the gunman's hotel room
Oct 02, 2017
A gunman opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada late Sunday, injuring more than 400 people and killing at least 50--the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Law enforcement identified the lone suspected shooter as Stephen Paddock, a 64 year-old white male. Paddock was later found dead in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, located across the street from the concert grounds.
According to Sheriff Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Paddock opened fire at the thousands of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the hotel at around 10:15pm local time. At least eight firearms, along with several long rifles, were reportedly found in Paddock's room.
The Washington Post reports:
The gunman was previously known to local police for past run-ins with law enforcement, according to people familiar with the investigation. Recordings of the attack suggest the suspect used an automatic weapon.
The shooting occurred at the end of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music concert held over the weekend that reportedly drew 30,000 attendees. The concert grounds are adjacent to Mandalay Bay. The shots began as Jason Aldean, one of the final performers, was playing.
Videos of the horrifying scene quickly spread on social media. One witness told the local television station KLAS that "the shots just kept coming."
"Everybody's hiding everywhere, they're hiding under the bleachers, and the stanchions, and anywhere they could," she said.
Several videos caught the moment the first shots were fired.
Warning, the following videos are disturbing.
U.S. President Donald Trump, American politicians, and world leaders quickly responded to the attack, offering condolences to the victims and their families.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A gunman opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada late Sunday, injuring more than 400 people and killing at least 50--the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Law enforcement identified the lone suspected shooter as Stephen Paddock, a 64 year-old white male. Paddock was later found dead in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, located across the street from the concert grounds.
According to Sheriff Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Paddock opened fire at the thousands of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the hotel at around 10:15pm local time. At least eight firearms, along with several long rifles, were reportedly found in Paddock's room.
The Washington Post reports:
The gunman was previously known to local police for past run-ins with law enforcement, according to people familiar with the investigation. Recordings of the attack suggest the suspect used an automatic weapon.
The shooting occurred at the end of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music concert held over the weekend that reportedly drew 30,000 attendees. The concert grounds are adjacent to Mandalay Bay. The shots began as Jason Aldean, one of the final performers, was playing.
Videos of the horrifying scene quickly spread on social media. One witness told the local television station KLAS that "the shots just kept coming."
"Everybody's hiding everywhere, they're hiding under the bleachers, and the stanchions, and anywhere they could," she said.
Several videos caught the moment the first shots were fired.
Warning, the following videos are disturbing.
U.S. President Donald Trump, American politicians, and world leaders quickly responded to the attack, offering condolences to the victims and their families.
A gunman opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada late Sunday, injuring more than 400 people and killing at least 50--the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Law enforcement identified the lone suspected shooter as Stephen Paddock, a 64 year-old white male. Paddock was later found dead in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, located across the street from the concert grounds.
According to Sheriff Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Paddock opened fire at the thousands of concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the hotel at around 10:15pm local time. At least eight firearms, along with several long rifles, were reportedly found in Paddock's room.
The Washington Post reports:
The gunman was previously known to local police for past run-ins with law enforcement, according to people familiar with the investigation. Recordings of the attack suggest the suspect used an automatic weapon.
The shooting occurred at the end of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music concert held over the weekend that reportedly drew 30,000 attendees. The concert grounds are adjacent to Mandalay Bay. The shots began as Jason Aldean, one of the final performers, was playing.
Videos of the horrifying scene quickly spread on social media. One witness told the local television station KLAS that "the shots just kept coming."
"Everybody's hiding everywhere, they're hiding under the bleachers, and the stanchions, and anywhere they could," she said.
Several videos caught the moment the first shots were fired.
Warning, the following videos are disturbing.
U.S. President Donald Trump, American politicians, and world leaders quickly responded to the attack, offering condolences to the victims and their families.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.